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Printed maps? Sugg for QLI Product Line

dancha

SOC-12
Greetings, all:

(Please re-locate this post if it should go elsewhere...)

Has QLI considered, or would QLI consider publishing printed maps for the Official Traveller Universe? I'm thinking:
</font>
  • Gateway</font>
  • The Whole Imperium</font>
  • The Spinward Marches</font>
  • ...you get the idea...</font>
I'm dreaming of something tabloid-sized (B5 in metric, I believe); i.e., the same as four 8.5x11" sheets. If this were the Gateway Domain, that'd be one Letter-sized page per sector.

Or better yet: four tabloid-sized sheets, one per sector, which one could stick together to make a truly giant map...

Motivation: didn't the old CT Deluxe Traveller boxed set, and the MT boxed set (and maybe also the TNE boxed set) all come with printed maps? I seem to recall that one boxed set got you The Spinward Marches, while another gave you the whole Imperium (with less detail, of course). But still, it was big and beautiful!

You see, the room in my house where all my gaming stuff lives has on one wall the tabloid-sized map of my own fantasy world, hand-drawn by me in the late 80s. And it has a blank space for Gateway...

And just think of how cool it would be for showing to prospective players -- and to existing ones.

Question for the Board: should it be black background? Or white (or light gray, or...)?

Other questions:
</font>
  • Just worlds?</font>
  • Political boundaries?</font>
  • X-Boat Routes?</font>
  • ...</font>
Print on both sides, and put additional stuff on the back?
</font>
  • different historical periods</font>
  • Whole galaxy -> our arm -> whole Imperium -> Gateway...</font>
  • other sectors (at a smaller scale?)</font>
So many options...

Thanks all,
Dan
 
I would be happy for a pdf file that could be printed off on 11x17 sheet for each sector. I too would like to post part of the known universe on the wall


Dave
 
I've been working on a similar thing. I have a Corel Draw file that I've been working on. It is generally designed to be a reproduction of the old Spinward Marches poster/map, however, thanks to the miracle of 'layers' I can put in too much info to be useful, and then just print (to pdf, if necessary) the appropriate layers as necessary.

The main thing holding it up is the insane amount of gruntwork needed to come up with GT:Far Trader trade routes.


I would like to note that SJG had some nice ideas for extra 'world colors' in their color maps, but stopped a little short. If you're going to do a full color map like the old ones, here's my thoughts for the -uh- 'world dots':

White - vacuum (with blue ring for icecaps)
Yellow - desert
Blue - water world
Red - exotic atmosphere
Green - everything else
(note: this *is* the SJG colors except for the icecaps and the red/green part)
 
Originally posted by Rindis:
The main thing holding it up is the insane amount of gruntwork needed to come up with GT:Far Trader trade routes.
Anthony Jackson has software that can do this, and produce PDF maps. Maybe you should talk to him?
 
Actually, a huge foldout map might be a good thing for 2320AD...
 
Originally posted by Robert Prior:
Anthony Jackson has software that can do this, and produce PDF maps. Maybe you should talk to him?
I started mine, realized how much work it was, saw his.
Unfortionately, I have problems telling the various line thicknesses apart with complete certainty.
Maybe I should write him; I just wasn't *too* concerned at the time....

Here's a sample of how my project looks with just the X-boat routes. (Yeah, I'm using the GURPS starport codes - 0 is X, V is A.)
 
Hmm... I can tell I've seen some examples of this program's work before.
Not at all bad, but I've already got Corel (and maps are a great way at improving my skills with it :D ), so not an immediate buy (yeah, I'm cheap, or rather, broke).

For future reference, what can it do in the nature of 'non-standard' maps? (Like a trade route map, or maybe a study of population density?)
 
Originally posted by Malenfant:
Actually, a huge foldout map might be a good thing for 2320AD...
I would agree. But we'll just have to wait and see.

Colin
2320AD writer
 
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